A Day in the Life of a Therapy Dog: Meet Finnegan!
By: Amber Bo
koski, LCSW, Licensed Therapist, AllHealth Network Resiliency Program
Finnegan is one of our therapy dogs in our Animal Assisted Therapy Program, and he serves as a co-facilitator for some group therapy sessions. In one group of 14–18-year-olds, we were focused on communication and problem-solving skills. The teens worked together to teach Finnegan to jump through a hula hoop!
Throughout the session, the teens established a leader and communicated with each other about how to instruct Finnegan through the hoop with little interference from me. After multiple tries, re-working their ideas, and changing tactics, they successfully got Finnegan to jump through a hoop!
The teens reflected on their success and how their communication helped them, and they leaned on each other for support and ideas when Finnegan did not listen at first. Finnegan helps others learn and utilize distress tolerance, communication, and problem-solving skills.
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